Key West-Yoga on the Beach, Dolphins at Sunset

Tuesday, January 18 Beach Yoga, Dolphin Sunset

I missed a great sunrise this morning, DANG, but it will be a good day anyway-today I’m doing a Yoga on the Beach Class. (turned out that it was the best sunrise of the week!)

After breakfast (make your own waffles!!), I call a Lyft to take me to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.

If you walk or bike into the park, admission is $2.50 but it’s included in the Yoga on the Beach class. The park is made up of the historic fort and a few trails, but the biggest feature is the beautiful beach with palms and pines.

I meet Nancy C. the instructor and collect my blanket and mat and find a space on the white sand beach under the pines. It was a great one hour class focused on breathing and letting go of hording (hording anything-we no longer need in our lives.)

Waves were rolling in, the sky was an amazing blue, and the blue-green water created a sacred space that was just perfect for this relaxing class. Nancy gently worked our whole bodies. Bliss!

Around 9 a.m. the sailboats started to head out for the Southernmost Regatta 2022. Boats are in town this week for the regatta. I have no idea how the race works but the boats were fun to watch.

After class I walked around the park a bit; snapped a photo of the famous mile marker sign and walked until the Navy fence stopped me.

Then I called for a Lyft back to the hotel.

I take a quick shower then Jay and I head to the bar. Lunch at the Cheekie Hut Bar-Mahi Sandwich and Key Lime Pie for dessert!

We need to walk off the Key Lime pie, so we decided to check out the Fort East Martello.
(Todd Snider is playing there on the weekend so we want to check the fort out as a music venue).

The fort was built in 1862 by the US Army to defend against a possible Confederate Army sea assault. It's a weird history-US Army base on Confederate Florida soil.

The museum holds lots of Key West artifacts. Including Robert, The Doll.
Legend has it that Robert has supernatural powers and allegedly has cause many mishaps. I asked Robert for permission to take his photo, he didn’t say no, so I took a few.

I climb the tower for some great 360 views of the island. The airport is right behind the fort so you can watch planes taking off and landing too if you feel so inclined.

We walk back to the hotel and wait to catch the hotel’s free shuttle. It runs every 45 minutes from the hotel to The Waterfront Brewery on William St.. Making it an easy walk into Old Town or around the Key West Bight/marina.

We’re booked on a sunset catamaran.
Not one of the ones with the "all you can drink" option but one that follows the local wild bottlenose dolphin population.

We’re early so we stop into the Boat House at Turtle Kraals for cocktails. We watch the pelicans and the regatta boats returning to the dock.

Around 3:30 we head over to the dock; we're booked with Honest Eco. This company was founded in 2014 by biologist Billy Litmer. We’re booked on the Blu Q for a Dolphin Search and Sunset Tour.

Captain Jesse, first mate Rachel and Corbin welcome us aboard and offer us water in reusable containers-they really are trying to reduce the single use plastic. There are 17 passengers for this 2-hour tour.

Before we leave the dock, Jesse gives a briefing about the catamaran and about our sailing plan, it will be-one hour with the dolphins and one hour sunset views and then sail back to the dock.

There have been reports that there is a pod off Fort Zachary Taylor State Park so that’s where we’re headed.

(Lots more dolphin photos: CLICK HERE)

As soon as we get to Fort Zachary we spot the dolphins. There appears to be a few adults and at least two moms with babies.

Rachel say it looks like the adults are training the babies to dive. They all sure like they are having fun and we’re having fun watching them. Our hour with them passes way too quickly.

The sails go up and we turn west to catch the sunset. Sunset was ok, not great. There were a lot of clouds.